Accepting responsibility for his actions, which criminal defense attorney Robert G. Stahl told the media represented, “a terrible error in judgment,” Dias Kadyrbayev pleaded guilty to obstruction and conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.
UMass-Dartmouth foreign exchange student Kadyrbayev comes from a former eastern bloc country, and also was without any experience with the U.S. justice system, Mr. Stahl said after the young man from Kazakhstan pleaded guilty in Boston Federal Court.
Kadyrbayev could face as much as seven years in federal prison, Stahl said, telling the media he will argue, at sentencing, for a lesser sentence and return to his family after it is served.
Kadyrbayev’s two college student codefendants, one of whom is also from Kazakhstan, were convicted of marathon-aftermath charges by Boston Federal Court juries.
Kadyrbayev and his fellow Kazakh college student had been scheduled for November 2014 sentencing but U. S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Whitlock issued an order that a pending U.S. Supreme Court case had created “uncertainty” in the aftermath cases. Post-trial motions and sentencing, even the acceptance of Kadyrbayev’s plea could hinge of the top court’s decision which is expected in July 2015, according to media reports.
The Boston Globe
“Dias was shocked and horrified that two people he knew were involved in the bombing. … Today’s plea was entered because Dias now understands he never should have gone to the dorm room; and he never should have taken any items from that room. So, today he formally accepted full responsibility for his actions and sincerely apologizes for his conduct,” Stahl said.
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USA Today
” Kadyrbayev’s attorney, Robert Stahl, released a statement following the plea, explaining that his client ‘today stood and accepted responsibility for his actions’ as he ‘made a terrible error in judgment for which he has paid dearly.
‘His age, inexperience with our criminal justice system, and cultural differences as a foreign college student help provide context, but not an excuse for those actions,’ the statement said. ‘Today’s plea was entered because Dias now understands he never should have gone to the dorm room; and he never should have taken any items from that room. So, today he formally accepted full responsibility for his actions and sincerely apologizes for his conduct.'”
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